dollarbill300 wrote:OK, went today to swap out the sd card. Had only 3 pics. All at night. 1 buck(biggest one I have gotten on camera yet), 1 doe, and 1 coyote. I did go further back into the woods today looking for trails and oak tree's. Did find 2 separate trails not far from where I had the camera for the last week. I also found several tree's producing acorns, but they were green. Also, I could not verify they were white oaks or red oaks. The leaves did not look like the info I read about them online. I'm a little confused about some things I saw today.1) I found ears of corn, eaten and browned/blackened laying on the ground. What would that be from?2) I found 6 of what I believe are chestnut tree's. They are located in a part of the open field along with 2 giant oak tree's. What is a deer's first choice, acorns or chestnuts? Would bucks come out of the dense woods to eat chestnuts this time of year? 3) Are the acorns supposed to be green?

I will post pics of the acorns and chestnut tree. Could someone verify the chestnut tree. What's casing the discoloration on the leaves with the acorns? Thanks.

1) ears of corn, someone else has already been baiting.2)ACORNS ACORNS ACORNS= Yummy in the deers tummy.....3) They are green here as well. The farmers around here have been saying all year that this will be a cold and wet winter which will equal alot better hunting.

Thanks for the advice about the tree's. I did read up about the differences in the 2 types of tree's. I had read that about the difference in the shape of the leaves. While in the woods, I was looking for the types of leaves. As a side note, you would have laughed at me if you saw me walking around the woods. I looked like someone tripping, walking through the woods, staring up at the tree's all day. When I did find tree's that were producing acorns, the leaves did not look like what I had read about. Some of them were long and skinny. I only found 1 tree that I could absolutely identify as a white oak, but again, it was close to the field in an open pocket. If the acorns are currently green, is that because they have not matured yet and turned brown? Also, I read that chestnuts are in the white oak family. So, those chestnuts would be considered an acorn? It seems like there are different types of white oaks that produce different types of nuts. Would they all be considered acorns? I'm more confused now than ever.... I'm new to hunting and this is all new to me. Sorry if I am annoying anyone.

Dollar bill, this is the best place in the world, for questions about deer hunting(IMHO) and there are no stupid questions, just unasked ones.All nut bearing trees are related to some extent, but chestnuts are a last choice food when the acorns run out. The long thin leaved tree might be a pin-oak. If you want to know for sure, you could photo the tree, leaves, and acorns, take samples and visit your local college. Any professor there who teaches about botany would love to show off his skill, and be flattered you came to him for answers.If you do multiple trees, be sure to the samples and pics sesparate for each tree to be identified.

The only real difference between a good tracker and a bad tracker is observation. All the same data is present for both. The rest is understanding what you are seeing.

When I went to Ranger school and we learned tree identification the oaks (because there are so many) were divided into just two main groups,,, The white oak and the red oak ,,, identified by the method mentioned in the previous post. All oak leaves are basically similar in they are all lobed. Some are long and skinny some are more round but all are lobed. Like apples they are green till rip. (brown) If you have them in your area ,beech nuts, are a food source preferred along with acorns.

Down here the acorns are falling and most of them are brown. Usually the green ones fall after a hard rain and a strong wind has passed through. Also, Chestnuts are few and far between unless someone has planted the blight resistant variety, but down here wherever there is a native Chestnut, the bucks will be there.

rthomas, I believe they are chestnuts. I posted a picture above up close of the chestnut tree's branches. The actual chestnut's were falling out of the prickly shell. There was a trail of matted down grass coming out from the woods directly to the spot where there were chestnuts on the ground. This picture is exactly what they looked liked. What has me confused is that these 6 tree's are in the field, an open area. I put my trail camera about 20 feet inside the field edge, in line with an opening that will take them to the trail.

Other than that, I went to the library on saturday to read up a little more about red vs. white oak tree's. The difference in the leaves are rounded vs. pointed. One thing I did learn is that white oak acorns, the cap covers about 1/4 of the acorn. In a red oak acorn, it covers a much smaller portion.

rthomas4, this is a picture of a chestnut I picked up today from where I plan to hunt. They are all over the ground. The pics from my scouting camera today had a few bucks moving in the direction of these tree's.Young bucks. I had the camera placed about 20 feet inside the field edge, facing the chestnut tree's. I moved the camera closer to one of the tree's that had alot of these nuts on the ground with alot of tracks. Our gun season doesn't open until 10/11. I don't know if I should place my stand closer to the chestnut tree's along the field edge, or place it further back in the woods and try to catch them walking towards it.